1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant's weight detecting system for detecting the weight of an occupant sitting on a seat of a vehicle and using an allotment method with at least first and second weight-detecting units.
2. Description of the Related Art
The operation and non-operation of an air bag device for an occupant on a passenger seat, the magnitude of the speed of deployment of an air bag and the like are controlled depending on the physique of the occupant sitting on the passenger seat and the presence or absence of the occupant, i.e., depending on the status of the occupant. For example, when the occupant is an adult or a child, the air bag device is operated, and when the occupant is a baby or infant sitting on a seat or when no occupant sits on the seat, the air bag is not operated. Further, even when the air bag device is operated, the deployment of the air bag is controlled so that, when the occupant is an adult, the air bag is deployed at a high speed, and when the occupant is a child, the air bag is deployed at a low speed. Thus, it is possible to ensure that the air bag device exhibits an optimal restraint performance corresponding to the status of an occupant. Also, it is possible to avoid unnecessary deployment of the air bag.
A status-determining device for determining a status based on an occupant's weight detected by a plurality of weight sensors mounted in a seat, is known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-160571. The status-determining device is designed so that outputs from the weight sensors are corrected based on a temperature detected by a temperature sensor in order to compensate for changes in outputs from the weight sensors.
In the above-described conventional status-determining device including a plurality of weight sensors, when a door is opened and cold air flows into a vehicle compartment during heating of the vehicle compartment, a sudden change in temperature occurs, so that differences are generated among the temperatures of the plurality of weight sensors. Therefore, it is difficult to appropriately correct a difference between temperatures of two strain resistors constituting one weight sensor, for example, by a single temperature sensor.